1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to racks and enclosures, and more particularly to equipment used to contain and manage air used to cool data processing, networking and telecommunications equipment housed in equipment racks.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In order to control the flow of air throughout a data center, and to optimize the air flow through equipment racks provided in the data center, it may be desirable to contain the air within hot and cold aisles to conserve energy and to lower cooling cost by managing air flow. As a result, hot aisle containment systems have been developed to contain and manage air within the hot aisle. Cold air containment systems have been developed as well. With both containment systems, the aisle roof and doors need to be closed during normal operation. One disadvantage associated with a typical hot aisle containment system is that a ceiling of the air containment system may block or otherwise prevent a sprinkler system of the data center from deploying during an emergency. Thus, such an air containment system often requires a separate sprinkler (suppression) system embedded within the air containment system.
Currently, in one embodiment, the data center aisle containment roof system may include drop-down roof panels, such as the system disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0113883 A1, entitled ELECTROMAGNETIC LOCK DROP CEILING FOR AISLE CONTAINMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD, which is illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown, when fire or smoke is detected, panel retainers are released, and the panels drop to the floor so the sprinkler spray can reach the aisle. In another embodiment, the system may have hinged roof panels, which is illustrated in FIG. 2. As shown, when fire or smoke is detected, the hinged roof panels release on one edge and hang vertically on the other edge so that the sprinkler spray can reach the aisle. In other embodiments, the system may have fixed roof panels having sprinkler heads that extend through the fixed panels.